See no Evil
by Shinsou
Summary: *Chapter 9 Up! COMPLETE NOW!* Gwen witnesses a crime. The the cops have recruited her to help their case, but Gwen's afraid of getting in to deep but it's already to late, especially when the criminals start showing up at her job...
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey all. :) This is apart of a trilogy of Gwen x Duncan fics I finally decided on, since I seem to only be able to write Gwen x Duncan with Duncan being some crazy killer. lmao This one is complete and will be updated once a week or so, until it is complete here on FF. :) The 2nd story in the trilogy is already in works so once I'm done uploading this one, you won't have to wait long to read the next one. None of the stories in my trilogy follow the same story line. So enjoy See no Evil.  
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Gwen was heading home after a long night of classes. College was really starting to suck. Part time job and full time classes was killing her. It made it so she couldn't afford a car, despite the fact she had her license and had, had it for over a year. She lugged her book bag down the empty street. The street lights created an eerie scene, but Gwen walked like this every night, she was quite used to it.

Eventually her book bag gave her shoulder enough issues that she pulled it off and let it hit the ground while she took a breather at the bus stop, even though the buses had stopped running an hour ago. She yawned. She still wasn't used to this schedule change. She rubbed her eyes, and let another yawn escape. The light above her flickered.  
"Great." She muttered as it flickered again and suddenly she disappeared into the darkness. "Just peachy." She stood up and went to toss her bag over her shoulder, when a hellish sound caught her off guard. A car came to a screeching halt maybe a few steps away from her and she saw two people jump out, and proceed to drag another person out. The headlights blinded her slightly, but she tried her hardest to watch, and listen…

"You KNOW YOU OWE ME THAT MONEY!!" It was an angry voice and then some sort of blubbering sound that followed from the other person that had been dragged from the vehicle. "I don't want to hear your bullshit. I want the $20,000 by the end of the week or our next meeting won't be NEARLY as nice."

A horrid noise came to Gwen's ears and then a painful scream. Gwen covered her mouth in horror. She couldn't see what was going on, since the car was blocking her view but whatever it was, it was bad, and she should not have been hanging around. She grabbed her book bag and started to hurry down the street.

Sadly, she wasn't fast enough…  
"Hey, boss, I think someone's seen us!"  
Gwen's eyes widened and she started to run. She could hear the car start up and the two doors slam shut. She ran across the street and down an alleyway and ran half way around the building and ducked down behind some old crates and boxes.

The sound of screeching brakes—car doors opening and then footsteps. Gwen held her breath as she heard them getting closer. Gwen peeked through one of the crates and saw the shoes and pants of the man that was standing there, most likely surveying the area.  
"Forget about it Duncan, lets go. You can find her later. I'm not too worried about some college girl anyway."

The footsteps retreated and the car doors shut and the car peeled away. Gwen leaned against the graffiti covered wall and let out a breath. Slowly she peeked out again to make sure the side of the building she was hiding behind was empty.

Gwen came out of the boxes and crates, and started on her way home, looking over her shoulder constantly.

The sidewalk seemed to stretch on forever, and she couldn't shake the feeling of being followed but once she made it home, she felt a bit safer. At least here she had weapons if she needed them—and doors she could lock. Quietly Gwen made her way down the hall and into her bedroom, being sure not to wake her poor Mom who had only just gotten home ten minutes before her, or her brother who had school the next morning.

She changed into her black pajamas and sat down at her desk and opened her laptop. (The very first thing she bought with her very first paycheck.) She pulled up AIM and signed in, and searched her friends list to see if LeShawna was on. Once she deemed that she was she double clicked her screen name and typed;

**Tainted_Artist:**LeShawna, thank god you're online, I need to talk to someone!  
**ProjectDancer65: **What's up girl? Something bad happen at school?  
**Tainted_Artist: **No, more like on the way home from school.  
**ProjectDancer65: **???  
**Tainted_Artist: **I saw—well more like heard some guy get his ass kicked, and the people that beat him up came after me!!  
**ProjectDancer65: **WHAT!? Hold up, wait a minute. You're okay, right?  
**Tainted_Artist: **Yeah, I'm fine—they gave up on looking for me but it was scary as hell. I thought I was going to be the next one to get beaten…  
**ProjectDancer65: **You start carrying a knife or something with you when you're on your way from school. I don't want anything happenin' to you Gwen.

**Tainted_Artist: **Yeah, I think I'm going to. But I just wanted to tell you what happened because I'm still a little shaken up, but I'm going to get some sleep since I have work tomorrow. *sigh*  
**ProjectDancer65: **Ok, you keep me posted on this, and if you need me gimme a ring. Have a good day tomorrow. !  
**Tainted_Artist: **Thanks, night, LeShawna  
**ProjectDancer65: **Night girl.

With that Gwen shut down her computer and crawled into bed, and after tossing and turning a little bit; Gwen finally fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.

The next morning Gwen woke up and dressed in her uniform for Black Light Music. Oh, the joys of being a sale associate. She clipped on her name-tag. She rested her backpack on her bed so when she got home from work at 5, she would remember to do her homework for her eight o'clock class. She glanced at her clock. She had thirty minutes to get to work. Sometimes she hated having to be there at 9:30 in the morning.

After a short wait at the bus stop at the corner of her street she arrived at the mall with ten minutes to spare, as usual. She walked into the two story mall, took the elevator up, walked down past many stores and finally, tucked away next to a SPENCER'S and Books-A-Million was her job. She walked in.  
"Morning guys." She called to her manager and fellow sales associate.  
"Mornin' Gwen!" Geoff called. He was another sales associate, of course.  
"Good morning Gwen." Courtney beamed.  
"I guess since you're so happy, we did good in sales yesterday?"  
"Sure did! We went over our goal by $200!" She was beaming all over the place, and Gwen—well she wanted to go and stock CDs and be left alone for the day.  
"Okay, that's cool. Well, I'm going to start stocking the CDs…"  
"Alright, there's four boxes of them in the back, came in last minute last night before Heather closed."

Gwen turned her back to Courtney, made a face at the mere mention of her Assistant Manager's name and nodded as she left to the backroom. Thank god Heather was off today, and the other ASM DJ would be closing. She only would see him for a mere hour before she was off, but it was a more enjoyable hour with him than with Heather.

At about 2:30 Gwen was now stocking the newest DVDs. This she enjoyed. Sitting on the floor shifting through them. She had a system. First she separated them by genre and then she alphabetized them. It made putting them up so much easier. Gwen sorted through the lovey-dovey movies as quickly as she could and then heard;  
"You don't seem like you like those much."

Gwen paused and as she looked up she noticed the mans shoes. She swallowed. Those same punk boots with studs on them. Her eyes came up to the person who was speaking to her. He raised an eyebrow at her, since she hadn't answered.  
"Oh um, yeah, I'm not one for romantic anything." She said with a slightly nervous laugh. He squatted down next to her and started to pick up some of the new horror movies that were out. She glanced at him as he picked up a few and stood up. Maybe it wasn't him. After all—lots of people had those shoes. She just saw them for sale at Hot Topic on her way to the elevator. She relaxed a little bit.  
"You know, sweetheart you should really relax, they're only DVDs." He said with a smirk as he walked to the counter.

Sweetheart? Gwen blushed a little and looked down at the DVD in her hand. _Love Over a Thousand Years_.  
"Oh give me a break." She tossed it into the pile for that genre. After quickly alphabetizing them, she got up and started to put them away, humming along with the music they played overhead. The man that called her sweetheart passed her by with Courtney. Gwen glanced at him, she still had a little, tiny uneasy feeling, but he seemed okay…

Courtney was pointing out the new movie posters that they were selling and mentioning a contest they had going on to receive free movie tickets for a month. All they had to do was buy at least three posters and enter their name in the drawing. Gwen wished she could enter, but no, employees weren't allowed. The man toyed with his eyebrow ring, while he thought about it and then he nodded, and pointed out the three he wanted.  
"Alright, I'll get those from the back for you; just give these to the cashier." She handed him three tabs with barcodes on them.

Gwen looked at the register. Empty. Damn Geoff off to lunch as usual. She hurried over to the register as the man came up to her.  
"Hey sweetheart." He smiled as he tossed the tabs down and set the DVDs down. Gwen smiled as she scanned each thing.  
"You're total is $42.68."

She watched him reach into his pocket and pull out a wad of cash. Her eyes widened slightly and she tried to remain composed. No one that looked like him should have that kind of money—but then again she was doing just what the people at the Coach store did to her, when she went in there to waste her ten minutes of break time last week—judge. He handed her a hundred dollar bill. "Sorry, thought I had something smaller on me."  
"That's okay." She said as she ran the counterfeit detecting pen over it and deemed it authentic. She keyed it in, and the drawer popped open. She counted out his change and handed him back $57.32. "Have a great day sir." She smiled.  
"Don't call me sir, makes me feel old. Name's Duncan." He said smiling at her as he collected his bag of goods. That's when Gwen's eyes widened in fear. That was the name she'd heard the other man call. Now that couldn't be two coincidences on one person.

Gwen didn't know what to say, her mouth was frozen in fear. But she was thankfully saved by Courtney bringing Duncan his posters.  
"Gwen, did you remember to enter his receipt into the drawing?"  
"Oh—I was just getting ready to do that!" She said printing off his receipt and handing him a pen. "Just write your first and last name and your phone number on here." She said. Duncan smirked at her a little and scribbled it down and handed it back to her.  
"There ya go sweetheart. If I win, I'll take you out for a movie." And he winked at her.

Gwen blushed a deep red. She nodded a little bit and Duncan left the store.

"Looks like he really had an effect on you." Courtney teased. Gwen only smiled at her a little and saw Geoff come in, back from his lunch break.  
"I'm off to lunch!" She said and quickly clocked out and disappeared out of the store.

Gwen went to Subway and bought herself a six inch Italian BMT, a bag of chips and a soda and sat down in her usual corner seat. She was thinking about Duncan. She half wondered if he realized who she was. It seemed odd that all of that had happened the night before and bam—he shows up at her job. She swallowed some. Could he have followed her? She sighed and took a bite out of her sandwich. It had to have been just a coincidence, it had to be. She sipped her drink, and tossed a chip into her mouth.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: This chapter is a little short, but it's another setting the ground one, next chapter everything picks up. I thought I'd upload early because I have nothing to do around here. lol SO here's the second chapter, enjoy~~  
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After work Gwen took the bus back home and started on her homework. Her headphones were on, and she was trying desperately to conquer her hate for math.

6:30 rolled around and Gwen had finished her homework and was packing it back away in her bag when a knock came to the door. She got off of her bed and wandered down stairs. Another knock.  
"Okay, yeah, I'm coming, hold your horses." She said as she peered out the peep hole. It was a blonde chick, who was tapping her foot some. She was dressed in black pants, a black suit jacket and light blue shirt. Looked official. She opened the door. "Can I help you with something?" She asked leaning against the doorframe.

The woman reached into her pocket and pulled out a wallet and flipped it open to reveal a badge and ID.  
"Detective Bridgette Westwood. Can I ask you a few questions?"

Gwen's eyes widened. Oh, no way. This…this was not happening to her!!  
"Um, sure, come on in…" Gwen said opening the door more and letting the detective in.

After offering Bridgette some water, they came to settle on the couch.  
"Now, I'm sure this all must seem very scary to you," She began. "but we have reason to believe you're in danger."  
"Why?" Gwen asked trying to play off her fear of the whole situation.  
"One of our officers, that's currently working deep undercover reported seeing you last night."  
Gwen let out a breath of relief. That must have been that Duncan guy! No wonder he followed her to work!  
"Alright…then I guess you already know what went down during that time."  
Bridgette nodded.  
"I want to ask you something; do you walk down that street every night on your way home?"  
"I do."  
"Wonderful!"  
"What's so wonderful about it?" Gwen asked leaning on her hand.  
"An unaffiliated witness. Once we make our move, can I count on your testimony?"  
"What? No way. I am not testifying for anything! I want to know the whole story!" She demanded.  
"The less you know, the better off."  
"Then you don't need my testimony that badly, now do you?" Gwen asked raising an eyebrow.  
"I'll tell you a little bit, in return for your testimony and after we've arrested who we need, I'll fill you in. Deal?"  
Gwen nodded. "Deal."  
"What you witnessed last night was the brutal beating of a man done by a somewhat large group of loan-sharks. So far we've found ten people involved with this it stretches as far as one hundred and fifty miles from here. Sadly with these types of cases we can't just rush in and make an arrest or they'll all go into hiding and therefore we lose the big fish we need. And we, myself, the DA, and countless others in this line of work, not to mention families of people who have turned to these monsters would appreciate your cooperation to collaborate the undercover officers testimony when the time comes. Can we count on you?" She asked making eye contact with Gwen.

A moment of silence passed between the two women, and Gwen broke it with a sigh and a ruffling of her own hair as he ran her hand through it. All those people—really counting on her to collaborate testimony?  
"Do you really need me? I mean you do have the undercover officers word—"  
"I know it seems like an open and shut case once we arrest who we need, but the jury always likes to see an unaffiliated witness, it—lets them know we didn't do anything underhanded to capture these people. You would be surprised at what crime boss lawyers come up with." Bridgette said nodding, as she sipped her water.

"And I DO get protection?"  
"Yes. If our undercover reports that you may be a victim, even in the slightest we will send two armed officers to your home and they will switch out every eight hours, it will be twenty four hour surveillance, if you will."  
"Alright, I guess I can do this." Gwen said nodding.  
"Great. Now, I don't want you to purposely go looking into this case. I just want you to remain an unbiased witness. If something happens—" Bridgette dug into her pocket and pulled out a card. "call me. I'll meet you at the café on 8th Street, and you can brief me on anything you've seen or heard."

Gwen nodded, and that was it. As quickly as Bridgette came she left, leaving Gwen noticing it was seven o'clock and she probably missed the bus. She was going to be about ten minutes late for class now. She grabbed her things and walked to the bus stop and waited for the 7:30 one. She sighed.

After classes Gwen started on her walk home, taking the same route she always did. She was more cautious now—looking everywhere, down every dark alley, but half way home she calmed down some and walked normally instead of looking like a paranoid crazy girl. She neared the same area the scene happened at, and she paused a little and glanced around. As she walked by the light that had gone out the night before she was suddenly illuminated by bright white headlights. Her breath caught in her throat and her heart started to pound. The vehicle neared her and came to a stop directly behind her. Gwen slowly looked over her shoulder. The drivers side door to the SUV opened and someone stepped out.  
"Pretty late out to be walking home alone isn't it?"

Gwen clutched her backpack strap a little tighter as she stepped backwards. The man came into view more as he passed in front of the headlights. Gwen took another step back.  
"Oh, I don't mean to scare you." He flashed her a smile. "I just saw you leaving the school and noticed you left your book on the bench after you got off the phone."

Gwen swung her bag around and looked in it and sure enough she was missing her English text book. "It's in my car, I'll get it for you." He said smiling. Gwen nodded a little bit, still a little wary. When he retrieved it he came up to her. "So you need a ride home? I've heard some pretty nasty things have happened around this corner." He said looking around.  
"No, I'm good. Thanks anyway." She said taking the book from his hand.  
"…you don't remember me do you?"

Gwen glanced at him again and studied his face a little better. He did have some pretty green eyes.  
"No, I'm sorry—can't say I do." She said.  
"That's okay, it's not like we have class together or anything. I'm in the class next to yours."  
"Oh. You're in Ms. Gomez's History class?"  
"Yeah." He nodded. He put his hand on the back of his neck some. "Hope you don't mind I kind of looked in your book some and I saw your paper you wrote. It's amazing."

Gwen tinged red a little; "Thanks."  
"So um…I know you said no before, but are you sure you want to walk home like this?" He asked.

Gwen glanced around, it was pretty dark. "You know what; actually I would appreciate a ride." She smiled.  
"Great, hop in." He motioned to the SUV.

The seats were warm and comfy. It was much better than lugging her heavy book bag another mile home.  
"Nice ride you have." She said looking around at all the fancy do-dads.  
"Thanks, name's Trent by the way. What's yours?"  
"Gwen." She said resting her head back on the seat.

As he drove her home Gwen was thinking. This guy had to be loaded; this car was at least $60,000. But he looked like he was her age. Maybe it was his parents? She glanced at him. She just felt weird about the whole situation, but then again when was the last time she hopped in a big, black SUV with a stranger?

Slowly they rolled into her driveway. She opened the door.  
"Thanks for the ride, Trent."  
"Anytime." He said. "Hey—um, you busy tomorrow morning?"  
"I work."  
"Oh? Where at?"  
"Black Light Music."  
"I'll stop by." He winked at her. Gwen only smiled and climbed out and closed the door. Well, he was sweet. He stayed until she got into her house and then pulled away. Maybe it was a good idea she'd taken that ride. Usually she'd never meet such a nice guy.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Where the hell have I been?! Shame on me. Sorry everyone, I promise I'll start having regular updates now. :)!  
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Work the next day he didn't show up till the afternoon. Gwen was just getting ready to clock out for lunch.  
"And where are you going Gwen?"

Gwen made a face. She hated when she worked with Heather.  
"Lunch."  
"Only ONE hour. Do not go over." She said shaking a finger at her.

Gwen swiped her badge and left the store, and immediately Trent seemed to appear by her side.  
"Hey there."

Gwen looked over, surprised. "Oh! Hi!" She smiled. "Were you waiting for me?" She asked.  
"Yeah, I didn't want to get you in trouble. Your manager doesn't sound like a nice girl." He said.  
"Ugh. You have no idea…" Gwen sighed heavily.

Gwen started to head toward the Food Court, but Trent took her arm and pulled her off toward a Ruby Tuesday's that was inside the mall.  
"I—um…really don't have the money for this place. I don't get paid again till next week."  
"My treat." He said, as the waitress directed them to a booth. "Order whatever you'd like." He said as they sat down. Gwen smiled some. She ordered herself a Pepsi to start out with.

Just as she was about to engage him in conversation his cell phone went off. "I'm so sorry, I know this is incredibly rude, but it's an important call."  
"No problem at all. I understand." She said as the waitress was coming back with their drinks.  
"Hello?...what?" A short silence. "Yes, of course you have my permission to do that. I want that back no matter what. Call me later and let me know what the outcome was." Another silence. "Tonight? At 9:30? Alright, I'll meet you there." And he hung up and shoved his BlackBerry back into his pocket. "Sorry about that. So do you have class tonight?" He asked as he opened his menu.  
"Yeah, I do." She sighed.  
"If you want—I can give you another ride?"  
"That'd be great." She said smiling. Yeah, she kind of liked this guy. He was nice, cute and apparently knew how to take a girl out on a date. That phone call though—it worried her intuition, but she tried to push that to the side. She just wanted to enjoy her lunch with the cute guy she'd met.

When lunch finally ended, Trent walked her back to her job.  
"See you tonight." He said touching her arm gently.  
Gwen smiled, trying to hide her blush. He had such a soft touch. She watched him leave the mall, until he disappeared around the corner of the building.  
"UM. HELLO. Gwen, you need to clock back in, NOW." Heather commanded from behind her.  
"I know…" She muttered as she went to the computer and swiped her badge again. Heather walked back up to her.  
"Go help that weird looking guy over there." She said making a face as she motioned toward the DVD area. Gwen fought the urge to roll her eyes but walked over to the man that was squatting and searching through some more of their horror DVDs.  
"…hello." She said. It was that Duncan guy again.  
"Hey, sweetheart." He said looking up at her. Gwen squatted down next to him.  
"Something I can help you look for?"  
"Nah, I got it right here." He said holding up an old horror movie. "Your last one too." He smirked at her. He paused and looked at her face. "You know, sweetheart, you'd look real cute with your lip pierced."  
Gwen bit her lip a little and smiled. "You think so?"  
"Yeah, I do." He reached forward and touched her chin and tilted her head to the side. Gwen felt an almost electric shock, when he touched her. It was a mix of fear, thrill, and attraction. There was something about this guy that really clicked in her. "You know? Right here…" He said softly as his thumb stroked right under the right side of her lip.  
"AHEM."  
"OH. Um yes, sir these DVDs right over here are 50% off." Gwen said quickly as Heather stood behind her tapping her foot in an annoyed way. Duncan smirked and made his way over to the 50% off bin Gwen had told him about. Heather disappeared to go help another customer. Gwen sighed and rubbed her head some. What a day…

She checked Duncan out at the register.  
"See you later, sweetheart."  
"Bye." Gwen said. Wow, that was rare, two guys at the same time wanted something to do with her. Well—Duncan was probably just hitting on her because he could. Trent seemed genuinely interested.

When she got home she flopped onto her bed. She forgot to mention to Duncan she knew what he really was—but then again he probably didn't know that she was also sort of working for the cops too. She deemed it better to let everything continue the way it was. She didn't want to compromise anything. She stretched out on her bed, and then rolled onto her side. What had Bridgette meant when she thought she was in danger? Nothing had happened at all to her since. No one following her, no one threatening her, everything was hunky-dory.

That night after class she was waiting on the bench, that Trent had seen her on the night before. She was watching the school doors. Her class had let out five minutes earlier. But Trent didn't come out of the school, instead the SUV pulled up, and the window went down.  
"Gwen! Over here!"

She looked up and collected her things and hurried to the car, and got in.  
"Did your class get out early?"  
"No, I skipped today; work wanted me to work overtime." He said laughing some.  
"Oh? What do you do for a living?"  
"Loans."

Gwen's throat seemed to tighten up. "L-Loans?"  
"Yeah, at Wachovia. You know? The bank." He said.  
She relaxed a lot; "Oh, cool." She said.

The drive to her home was quiet, maybe it was the fact that the "loans" answer still bothered her, but to break up her thoughts his cell phone rang.  
"Yeah?"

The car lurched to a screeching stop as Trent slammed on the breaks. Gwen was jerked forward. "NO. You fix that NOW. And I mean now. What? He's doing what? Fine. I'll be there in one second."  
Gwen was staring at Trent in some sort of horror. He seemed to do a three sixty. He shoved his phone back into his pocket. "You mind if we take a small detour?"  
"Um…no?" She said. She didn't want to make him anymore angrier than he already was.

The car was jerked around in a U-Turn, and the speed picked up ten fold. Gwen swallowed some. This couldn't have been a good idea on her part. After about thirty minutes on the freeway, he took an exit and another ten minutes later came to a halt at a house.  
"Stay here." He said as he got out of the car. Gwen nodded a little. She looked around and saw another luxury car parked near the SUV she was in, and then a more homely car parked on the grass in front of the house. She sat their quietly, trying to listen for anything.

Silence, silence—**BANG**. Gwen gasped and put her hand to her mouth.  
"Oh my god, that was a gun." She said aloud to herself. "That was a gun…" She started fumbling for her phone and trying to get out of the car all at the same time, and forgetting she was buckled into the car. Just as she got her belt undone, Trent came out of the house. Quickly, Gwen buckled herself back in and acted like she hadn't heard a thing. He got back in and started the SUV. Gwen sat there silent as Trent started to back out of the driveway. She looked back toward the house and saw the guy from her job walk out. She let out a soft gasp and bit her lip in order to silence herself. Thank god the windows were tinted and he couldn't see her.

When she arrived home, Gwen got out of the car almost as quickly as she could, but Trent followed her up to her door.  
"Gwen…I'm really sorry about that mess." He said softly.  
"Um, oh, it's okay. I thought you were going to take longer than you did." Her plan was play it like she didn't hear the gun shot. He smiled at her and touched her hand.  
"I'm really glad you understand Gwen. I'm really starting to like you."  
Gwen blushed. "Oh? That's so sweet." She looked down some.  
"I know, it's pretty quick. I'll give you some time to think about it." He leaned down and kissed her nose softly, and told her good night and left.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Lets keep this story going here~ We still have many chapters to go. I'm still fighting a little with the 3rd part to the trilogy...but I'm sure eventually I'll have everything ready to go by the time it needs to be uploaded...in a story and a half. lol  
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As soon as Gwen was in her bedroom, she was on the phone to Bridgette.  
"So he finally went through with that…" Bridgette seemed to mumble to herself. Gwen could tell she was pacing around wherever she was.  
"What am I going to do?"  
"So far Gwen, I think you're safe. He seems to trust you, at least to some extent, or he doesn't know, that you know what he did. Do you have work tomorrow?"  
"Um, yeah, of course."  
"Alright, meet me at the café at 8:30, I can give you a ride to work after we're done talking."  
"Okay…"  
"Gwen. Be careful and keep your eyes open. I could be wrong about all of this."  
"Right."

And they hung up.

Gwen neglected to tell her that Trent had kissed her nose and admitted to liking her. She sat on her bed, she was wondering who the undercover was. It couldn't have been Duncan, it just didn't seem right. Unless he was really deep undercover. That had to be it. She'd never seen another man with Trent.

She sighed. She couldn't worry about it now. She had to get some sleep, especially if she had to meet Bridgette at such an early hour. She changed into her pajamas and curled up in her bed and went to sleep.

8:30AM sharp, Gwen was seated across from Bridgette sipping on a coffee and picking at a chocolate chip muffin, which the detective had so kindly treated her to.  
"Alright, Gwen, I want as much detail as you can remember." She had her notebook out and was ready to scribble the key points down. Gwen nodded a little and began to retell her tale;

"_I was waiting outside my school. He told me he also attends the same college, which I'm kind of starting to doubt now, but anyway; and his SUV pulled up and I got in with him and as he was maybe ten minutes away from my house he got a phone call and he slammed on the brakes. It scared the hell out of me. I was so glad it was mostly empty on the road. So he's talking to this guy on the other line and he's just completely changed. He was calm and collected one minute and the next he was yelling and squeezing his phone so hard it looked like it pop into pieces. So after he hangs up, he asks me if we could take a small detour. I said we could, because—well he was already in a pretty piss poor mood and I didn't want to anger him anymore so I went with him. We stopped at this one house and there was another car there—_

Bridgette interrupted her real quick; "Do you remember what the other car was?"

_"Yeah—it was a um…either black or really dark blue Mercedes-Benz. At the time I had no idea who drove it, but Trent told me to stay put and I did and he got out of the car and went right into the house. It was silent for a good long while and then I heard a gun shot. It startled me so much, I think I actually jumped some in my seat. And not even five minutes later he came back out and got into the car. As we were leaving I saw his—right hand man, I guess it would be? Come out of the house. I'm almost a hundred percent sure that the Benz belongs to him, because the other car in the driveway looked more homely—like the homeowners. And then Trent took me home, apologized about the "mess" as he called it and I went into my room and called you."_

Bridgette already had a few pages of notes.  
"If you see that Mercedes again, try to take the plate numbers and we'll run it to see if it's legit or stolen."  
Gwen nodded some. "Okay."  
"It'll most likely be stolen, or the plates will be switched." Bridgette sighed some. Gwen paused some.  
"You mean…the guy with the piercings—isn't your undercover?" She swallowed.  
"No…he's not. That's Trent's, as you said "right hand man"."  
Gwen felt fear bubble up inside of her. "Why?" Bridgette continued.  
"He's been…at my job twice after I witnessed what happened."  
Bridgette looked alarmed. "Has he said anything to you? Questioned you? Threatened you?" She asked.  
"No, it's like he doesn't know who I am."  
"Alright, good. At least you don't have to worry about that…keep an eye out though. He's sly."

Gwen nodded and then checked her watch. "Oh, I have to get to work."  
Bridgette stood up and paid the bill, tossed a two dollar tip down for the waitress and escorted Gwen back to her blue Mistubishi Eclipse.  
"They give you guys nice cars." Gwen laughed as she got in.  
"Oh, this is my personal vehicle, the precincts is a black Lincoln. I try not to use that unless I'm going to make an arrest. My little car doesn't draw as much attention as a big ol black car." She laughed as she started the car.

Since Bridgette had driven her to work, she got there with about fifteen minutes to spare. Yep, the bus took that long to get her to the mall. Gwen walked into the mall and decided for once to do a little shopping before work. After all, she could use some new clothes. She entered Hot Topic and started to pick through their clothes. Some of them were just a wee bit to bright for her. Like the neon pink, fluffy skirt she'd just passed by in disgust.

With five minutes to spare to get to her job, Gwen swung the bag that was full of shirts and pants over her shoulder as she walked.

Gwen clocked in and was pleased to see that her superior for the day was Courtney.  
"Hey, Gwen."  
"Hey." Gwen responded.  
"A bunch of new stuff came in and I need you to stock it, if you don't mind."  
"Not at all. You know I like stocking." And she did. It kept her out of the way of everyone. She ventured to the backroom and started to drag out the boxes. Oh yay, displays. She hated those. One time she monkied with one for over an hour and then it stayed put for about fifteen minutes before it crumpled to the ground—and Heather screeched at her. Slowly she pulled out the large cardboard pieces and started to assemble them.

Ten minutes later Courtney walked up to her and knelt down;  
"Gwen, you know usually I don't have an issue with friends and boyfriends coming to visit, but this guys has been here just about every day. Can you please tell him not to come in so often?"  
"But he's buying things…" Gwen defended, why she didn't know.  
"I understand that, but Gwen other customers hearing him flirting with you the way he does isn't very professional." She said nodding her head as she started to stand back up.  
"Okay." She said with a sigh, and just as Courtney left Duncan came over to her.  
"Hey, sweetheart."

"You need to stop coming in." She said.  
"Ouch, what's with the coldness?" He asked kneeling down next to her.  
"My manager says she's sick of seeing you here."  
"I buy stuff though." He laughed a little.  
"Yeah, it doesn't matter." Gwen said as she fumbled with a piece of the DVD stand display.  
"Alright then, since she doesn't like me coming in here, you can come with me to a movie tonight." He said raising an eyebrow at her. Gwen blinked some and looked up at him.  
"I'm working."  
"After work."  
"I've got class."  
"After class."  
"Look, why are you so persistent?"  
"Just would like to go see a movie with a pretty girl, is that so wrong of me?"  
Gwen couldn't help but blush some. Trent had never said if they were officially dating or anything so there was nothing wrong about her accepting this proposal and anyway who cares if he had said they'd been officially dating!? He was a dangerous man…  
"Okay, I'll go with you tonight after class. I get out at 10:15."  
"I'll be there to get you." He said in a soft whisper that sent chills up her spine, and then left the store.

That…that was not a well thought out idea. Oh well, at least this way she can collect more information. She wondered if she should have called Bridgette, but then decided against it. As long as she played it cool Duncan wouldn't get violent with her.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Merry early X-Mas one and all. :) Here's your X-Mas gift from me. lol I'll probably have another chapter coming before the new year, so look forward to it!!  
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Work came and went as did class, and soon she found herself in that same dark blue Benz she'd seen the night before.  
"So sweetheart, what would you like to see?"  
"Anything really. I'm not too picky, but I do prefer horror movies."  
"My kind of gal." He said winking at her as he drove to the theater.

While they were on the way Gwen chose to ask a few questions the first being—how someone like him could afford a Mercedes. Not in that rude of tone however.  
"My parents. They're loaded, and well this was my birthday present." He laughed some. Gwen nodded some as if she was going along with it, because of course, she knew better.

Duncan treated her to everything and then some at the movies, it was nice and she might have actually enjoyed herself if he wasn't the right hand man of a loan shark—who was also trying to win her affection. She wondered if it was a plan between the two or if the two didn't even realize they were after the same girl…

Gwen's thoughts were silenced though somewhere in the middle of the movie when he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Gwen kept telling herself to relax, so he didn't get suspicious, but it wasn't working.  
"Are you feelin' okay?" He whispered in her ear.  
"Yeah, just fine." She whispered back. "Just a little cold." Ugh. Wrong thing to say. He moved his drink to the other cup holder and lifted the arm rest and pulled her closer.  
"You could have just said so." His lips were barely brushing her ear; it gave her goose-bumps everywhere.

Everything in Gwen's head screamed that this was way to dangerous for her to be getting into, but apart of her…probably that part in all girls that was attracted to bad boys, seemed to thrive and love what was going on. He just didn't talk the part of a "bad boy" like Trent did, he walked it, and lived it. Maybe it was a bit more appealing? She found herself resting her head on his shoulder as someone was being massacred on screen. His hand was rubbing her shoulder as she was almost lulled to sleep by the action. Gwen almost found it hard to believe that she could be so relaxed and at peace while watching a horror movie and being so very close to someone who could and would probably kill her if he ever found out what she was actually up to. She swallowed hard at the thought and reached for her soda and took a good long drink, but that didn't seem to soothe her dry mouth and throat at all.

As the movie was drawing to a close—you know, the whole dramatic chase scene that ends with the hero somehow stabbing the bad guy hard enough that he "dies" until the sixth sequel; Duncan had his nose pressed against her hair. Gwen felt the girly-girl in her flutter and mentally celebrate that she had indeed remembered to wash her hair that morning. She felt him inhale, not just a little, but a deep breath and he seemed to hold it for a moment before he slowly exhaled.  
"You smell wonderful." He said in a quiet voice as the hero in the movie pushed the killers "dead" body into a nearby river, signally the creepy music as he walked away and the camera to pan back to the water where the killers eyes popped open and the movie came to an abrupt end. The light came back on before Gwen had a chance to thank him, as she opened her mouth to she heard him laugh a little. "You're blushing."

Her eyes widened for a moment and she could feel herself turn redder at his noticing it. But Duncan didn't say anything further as he rose from the seat. Gwen got up and started toward the stairs. She felt his hand a few times try to catch hers but she wouldn't allow it. She was already letting herself get to deep into the danger, and when they were finally outside in the cool night air Duncan grabbed her firmly by the arm and turned her toward him.  
"Do you have a problem with me all of a sudden?" He asked with a confused look on his face. Gwen gently pulled her arm away, stepped back on one foot and put her hand on her face some and let out a sigh.  
"Look, it's not that I have a problem with you. I mean—you seem really nice. I just don't think—this is right…right now." She said letting her hand fall to her side.  
"Oh? You do this regularly then?"  
Gwen was the one who looked confused now.  
"What? Do what?"  
"Let a guy take you out and buy everything and then tell him to get lost. You know that's how some women end up dead."

Gwen's heart suddenly was racing and she took an extra step backwards. Duncan saw this and tilted his head a bit at her.  
"You don't think—" He started to laugh. "Oh please sweetheart, don't flatter yourself. You're not worth killing over a movie. Now if I would have bought you a diamond necklace or something, then yeah, but a nine dollar movie and twenty five dollars worth of food, no way." He said still shaking his head and laughing.

Gwen couldn't help but glare at him.  
"You know what, screw you." She started to walk away. How insulting. She wasn't worth killing because it was cheap! She grumbled some choice words as she walked away, and started to wonder why it bothered her so much to not be "worth killing over a nine dollar movie and twenty five dollars in food". Wasn't it a good thing that he didn't want to—like shoot her? It was—but in the same breath it was insulting! Right?

She got to the corner of the theater sidewalk and went to cross the street toward the road that would take her home. It'd take her about thirty five minutes by foot, but like hell she'd ride with that jerk. Out of the blue, while Gwen was having her personal bitch-fit in her head the Mercedes pulled up next to her while she was waiting for the right to turn so she could cross.  
"Get in the car Gwen, this is stupid."  
"Go fuck yourself." She spat.  
"Oh, now that's so ladylike." He teased. She turned her head toward him and he was smiling at her.  
"Come on, get in. It's not safe to walk around at midnight."

The light turned red and the little white lights of the person in the process of walking popped up and Gwen crossed the street, ignoring him. While she walked she mocked him; "Oh please sweetheart don't flatter yourself." Her fingers tensed and eventually turned into two angry fists. "I'll sweetheart you." She hissed as she stomped her way onto the other sidewalk and continued on her way.

She didn't get very far and the Mercedes was right next to her, driving slowly to keep up with her walking speed.  
"Gwen, look I'm sorry, okay? You're worth killing over a nine dollar movie." He said.  
"Leave me alone, and go home before I call the cops for stalking." She threatened pulling out her cell phone. Duncan, however didn't listen and Gwen of course never made good on her threat. She just let him follow behind her in his car as she walked.

When she came to another street she went to cross and stopped in midstep as a car came screeching around the opposite corner and that was when the Mercedes Duncan was driving whipped around in front of her and it was good damn timing too, the next thing Gwen heard could only rival a war movie. She crouched down behind the car. She was having a panic attack and was on the verge of tears as the noise of the guns ripped through the silent night air. The passengers door opened and Duncan slid out next to her and pulled Gwen close.  
"Stay right here, don't move." He whispered in her ear. She nodded, and his arms came away from her and he opened the back door and pulled out a gun that all Gwen could tell was most defiantly an illegal weapon. The bullets hit the car and one slammed into the tire that was in front of the tire Gwen was hiding behind and she screamed, and put her head down and brought her hands against her ears. The return fire from Duncan almost calmed her some. At least she wasn't completely a sitting duck.  
"Gwen." He said as he scooted closer. "Go hide in the bushes." He motioned behind them. "Hurry."

He seemed to know something she didn't, so that was just what she did. Hid.

The gun fire stopped on both sides and the opposing cars occupants jumped back into their own shot up car and squealed off down the street. Duncan let out a heavy sigh as he tossed the gun back into the blown out back window of his car.  
"It's okay now Gwen you can come out." He turned toward the bushes. Slowly Gwen came out and walked over to him.  
"What the fuck was that!?!" She screamed in horror and worry.  
"You don't need to know." He said. He turned to walk around to the drivers side to see if the car would even start after the beating it took, and Gwen let out a gasp.  
"Duncan…you're…"  
"I'm fine, just some stray glass cut me." He said tapping the cut across his face.  
"Just some stray glass?! You're lucky you weren't killed!"

He looked at her from over the car.  
"_You're_ lucky you weren't killed." He opened the bullet ridden door and got in. Gwen stood there pretty much speechless. He was right. If he wouldn't have been there she would have been shot up beyond recognition.  
"B-but aren't they after you?" She asked, almost afraid it was letting him know everything she knew about him already. He eyed her from the window.  
"They're after whoever affiliates with me. Now are you going to get in or are you going to wait for round two?"

Gwen opened the door and sat down and strapped herself in tightly. "Just take me home."  
"I'm taking a different way there, incase they follow us." And he U-Turned and drove to the Loop 304 and jumped on it.  
"Are you sure it's safe to drive around in the car when it's in this condition?"  
"Would you rather walk home?" He asked as he merged into the middle lane. Gwen was silent after that.

Four detours later she was home. It was 1:45AM by now. Gwen got out of the car, shut the door causing more glass to tumble from it and she walked to the door and got her key out and tried to keep her hands from shaking long enough so she could stick the key in the lock and get the door open.

She dropped the key and suddenly was reduced to tears and was, not to much later on her knees, hands covering her face. Duncan came to her side and picked her up so she was standing and he also grabbed the key and opened the door for her.  
"Come on, I'll walk you to your room." He said taking her arm and holding it against his body, like you would see in an old Victorian movie.

In her room Gwen sat on the bed rocking herself a little, and Duncan was sitting right next to her.  
"I'm sorry this happened. I really am." He was rubbing her shoulder. Gwen nodded some.  
"Y-yeah…"  
"You want me to stay?"  
"N-no, I'll be fine. I just need to sleep—a lot."

He smiled and kissed her cheek. "Call me if you need me." He left his number scribbled on a paper on her desk and left without a second word.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Holy crappers, where the heck have I been!!? I'm so sorry everyone!!! Here's the 6th chapter! I'm going to start writing down in my planner when to update....  
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The next morning Gwen called out of work and just stayed in bed until her Mother left for work and then slowly she made her way out and down stairs and fixed herself a bowl of cereal, when the doorbell rang.  
"Coming…" She muttered not anywhere near loud enough for the guest to hear. She made it to the door and looked through the peephole. It was Trent. She wondered if he knew about what happened the night before…? Well, she didn't want to worry him any, so she'd keep it quiet. She unlocked the door and let him in.  
"Morning Gwen." He smiled.  
"Morning." She returned the smile, a bit less enthusiastically, but at least she returned it. Trent walked inside and made himself at home on the couch. "You busy today?"  
"Nope." She said. She wasn't even planning on going to class either.  
"How do you feel about going away with me for a weekend?"  
"What?!" She asked and set her cereal bowl down.  
"I was thinking either Vegas or Miami, what do you think?"  
"I think you're crazy! You barely KNOW me!!"  
"Right." He nodded. "But this way I can get to know you better." He smiled softly at her.

Maybe this was it. Maybe he was going to take her away and kill her! Someone told him! He found out she was working with the cops and this was how her life was going to end! Gwen mentally slapped herself across the face a few times to collect herself.  
"Miami's beaches are beautiful this time of year, but Vegas is a lot closer, and I get a free suite there and can get us tickets to the best shows." He smiled.  
"V-Vegas sounds nice." She said blinking not really believing the words that were coming out of her mouth.  
"Great." He took out his BlackBerry and dialed a number. "Yes, hi Sally, I'd like two tickets for this afternoon to Vegas. Yes, and contact that one hotel I stayed at last time and see if my room is available and tell them I want two tickets for that show with the white tigers." A silence. "Really? Prices sure have dropped. Alright, charge it to my Visa." Another silence. "I can pick them up at the airport? Great…and you have a great day too Sally." And he hung up. "Everything's set. Pack your bags, our flight leaves in four hours."

While Gwen was packing her bags she was still in shock. A weekend in Vegas, with someone she barely knew, and who was so incredibly dangerous it wasn't funny. She didn't really know how to take this. She scribbled a quick note to her Mom saying she was spending the weekend at LeShawna's to help her with a project for her Biology class.

Before Gwen knew it she was in Las Vegas, and Trent had a limo pick them up from the airport and they were on their way to The Riviera Hotel and Casino. Gwen was in awe as they drove. She was looking at everything.  
"Wait till you see it at night." He said as he pushed a button for the sunroof to open, to which Gwen took full advantage of, and stood up and looked out of it.

About twenty minutes later they rolled up to The Riviera and a fancy dressed valet opened the door, greeted Trent and let them out of the limo. Trent tipped him $150 and took Gwen's arm and led her inside.

Once inside Gwen felt her insides twist and tighten. She was really excited! It almost made her completely forget about the near death experience she had the night before. A black haired woman came up to them.  
"Welcome back to The Riviera, what can I do to make your stay as enjoyable as the last sir?"  
"Well, Mandy, this is my girlfriend Gwen and I would love it if you would take her to any shop she wants and let her charge whatever her heart desires."  
"Yes, sir. Of course." She smiled at Gwen, who was still standing in wonder at everything that was around her. Trent walked away to the check in area and Mandy took over.  
"Now, Miss—"  
"Just Gwen."  
"Gwen, what store would you like to go to first? If I may so hint—I think you should buy a dress for tonight." She smiled. Gwen nodded and followed Mandy's lead to one of the many stores that were across the street, and slightly down the street.

When Gwen entered one store, she was immediately drawn to a dark blue dress, but when she saw the $950 price tag she put it back, eyes wide at how much it cost.  
"Would you like to try it on?" The sales lady asked with a smile. Mandy nodded some from behind Gwen, and the sales lady, whose name tag read; Tammi took it off the hanger and led Gwen to a dressing room.

Not even five minutes later Gwen came out and smiled as she looked at herself in the mirror. It was a gorgeous dress and, if she may toot her own horn; she looked damn good in it!! She looked down again at the price tag and sighed. It would take her like an entire paycheck and then some to pay for it.  
"You did hear him say that you can charge whatever you want…" Mandy said seeing Gwen's disdain at the tag.  
"But $950? I mean—I can see like $100, and maybe a McDonalds for lunch, but this—this is ridiculous." She frowned.  
"If I may—he wouldn't have told you to do this, if he didn't want you to." She continued. Gwen bit her lip some. That was true; it wasn't like he was poor…  
"Okay! I'll take it!" She smiled happily.

One dress, one Coach purse, a pair of Versace sunglasses, and a nice pair of $200 heels later Gwen had finished her shopping and had made her way up to the suite where Trent was waiting. Everything she'd bought, had gone against her "brand-hate" attitude, but then again she wasn't the one paying for it, so that made it okay. Or at least that was how she explained it to herself as she clutched her Coach purse.  
"I see you had fun." Trent said as he rose from the couch in their room.  
"I didn't go crazy." She said.  
"I see and I'm very surprised, most women would have maxed out the card." He laughed some and pulled her a little closer, setting the bags on the floor. "I can't wait to see what kind of dress you picked out." He whispered letting his nose touch hers as his lips brushed hers gently. Gwen blushed feeling how close he was. He kissed her and stepped back. "I have a few things I need to do before tonight, so I'll see you at nine sharp."

She nodded and watched him go. She flopped onto the couch and sighed.

"So I'm his girlfriend now, hm? Wonder when he was going to tell me that." She sighed and shook her head some. It should have been apparent, but oh well. She'd at least have some fun in Vegas and anyway, it wasn't like she didn't like Trent. She did, but—she liked Duncan too. She giggled some at the thought of him. Despite being pissed off at him before, she was now just content as ever with him, especially when he'd taken her all the way to her room and sat with her. That meant more than any dress, or purse in the world.

Suddenly her cell phone rang.  
"Hello?"  
"Gwen? It's Brdgette. How are things going?"  
"Good, I'm in Vegas right now."  
"So I heard. You'll be making contact with our undercover tonight after the show. You're doing a great job Gwen. You're getting in really close!"

Gwen bit her lip, not all that sure if she should be that happy about it. "Anyway, Gwen our undercover's name is Owen. You can't miss him, trust me on this. While Duncan is Trent's right hand man, Owen is the illegal weapons dealer Trent deals with. They're very close."  
"How long has this operation been going on?" Gwen asked alarmed at the fact that the two were "very close".  
"This is the fifth year."  
"Why is it taking so damn long?"  
"The better case we build, the longer we can keep him behind bars, so far all we really have real proof of is the purchasing illegal weapons. But with your testimony we can get him for the loan sharking and now, even murder. Like I said Gwen, you're doing a great job, keep it up. I'll talk to you later! Bye!" And the line went dead. Gwen threw her phone down on the couch. This was BS, that's what this was.

Nine o'clock rolled around and Gwen was dressed in her new dress and was just waiting for Trent to come through the door, and when he did oh, did he look surprised.  
"Gwen—you look so beautiful."  
She blushed crimson. "Thanks."  
"Shall we? Our front row seats are waiting." He offered her his arm, which Gwen took. As she walked through the hall and even while she was on the elevator people were staring, but in a good way, not in the usual "oh what a freak" way.

Outside of the hotel, casino combination a gorgeous red Corvette was waiting to take them to their destination. The valet driver got out and went around the other side and opened the door for Gwen. She got in and was overcome with childish squeals, which she kept inside of course. Trent got into the drivers side and he drove them to the show, which he tipped another valet $100 to park it in a, as he said; "nice, safe area."

After the show, which Gwen thought was just flat out amazing, Trent took her to an after party, for lack of a better term. Rich people lined the walls, the thing was none of them looked—legit and legal, but she stuck close to Trent, and she heard;  
"Trent! It's been forever! How have you been?"

Trent turned around, which in turn turned Gwen around and she blinked a few times. THIS was the undercover?! Well, no one would ever suspect this guy. He was quite on the large side, and had a slice of pizza in his right hand and a drink in the other.  
"I've been good Owen; let me introduce you to Gwen, my girlfriend."  
"Hello." Gwen said smiling. Gwen's mind was working, it was mostly asking the questions; what the hell is an undercover doing in Las Vegas? Unless this was all planned? She blinked some at her own questions.  
"Well, Trent let me get her a drink and some food, while you take care of your business."  
"Thanks, I appreciate it." He said as he slowly removed Gwen's hand from his arm, gave it a gentle kiss and promised her she was in the best hands possible.

Yep. This all had to be planned. She let Owen lead her away to an empty corner.  
"How are you holding up?" Owen asked, seriousness coming to his face.  
"Good. Kind of shaken up."  
"Anything bad happen to you?"  
"Yesterday while I was with Duncan, we were ambushed or something to that effect. They shot up the car…"

Owen's eyes widened. "Did you tell Bridge?"  
"No, because that only happened to me because I was with him, it wasn't him trying to hurt me." Terrible excuse, but she used it anyway. Owen seemed to raise an eyebrow at her excuse but let it slide and continued;  
"I haven't had a chance to meet Bridgette and I don't trust the mail system for obvious reasons—they always seem to lose the most important things…" He reached into his pocket and pulled out two very small cassette tapes. "take these to her, they'll seal the case against them for murder."  
"Them?"  
"Trent and Duncan. First time they ever told me about any murder they ever did, I'm sure there's about ten or twenty more over these years—loan sharks get vicious if you don't pay them back in a timely manner."  
"…like I couldn't have guessed." Gwen muttered as she took the tapes and slipped them into the inside zipper compartment of her purse. With that being done Owen kept his promise of getting her some food and drink and Gwen took a seat on a very lovely black suede couch and waited for Trent to comeback from wherever he was. Probably some backroom…

About thirty minutes later Trent reappeared and walked over to Gwen, he didn't look too pleased at all.  
"We need to leave now, I hope that's okay." He said agitated at something.  
"Sure, that's no problem at all." She set her glass down and stood up.

Once they were in the car, Gwen decided to go for it;  
"What happened?"  
"An incompetent fool happened. I'll be staying in Vegas longer than I thought. If you don't mind I'm going to have you go home tomorrow morning, since I'll be gone a lot, it won't be what I wanted it to be. I'm sorry about this, but I promise I'll bring you back." He flashed her a smile. Gwen nodded.  
"No problem at all. I had plenty of fun anyway." She smiled at him.

The next morning at 11:30 she was on a flight back home, alone. She kept fumbling with the tapes in her purse, she was eager to hear what was on them, and kind of scared too. At her layover she called Bridgette;  
"I met up with Owen."  
"Great. Did he give you the tapes?"  
"Sure did. I have them in my purse as we speak."  
"Good. How much longer till you're back?"  
"Three hours."  
"As soon as you get in, and drop your stuff off at home meet me at the café. I'll be in the far back booth to the left away from the windows."  
"Alright, see you there." And she hung up.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Next chapter! Yay! This one is almost over so stayed tuned~ :)!  
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Gwen arrived, took a taxi home and dropped her luggage off and went straight to the café. She walked to the booth Bridgette had told her about and made herself comfortable right across from her.  
"The tapes?"  
"Right here." She opened up her purse and gave them to her. "Hope they help."  
"Oh they will help A LOT. We'll be able to make arrests after the DA hears them." She grinned.  
"…um, I think you should wait."  
"Why?" Bridgette looked confused.  
"Trent didn't comeback with me. He stayed in Vegas to take care of some business."  
"I see. Did he say when he'd be back?"  
"No. All he said was that he'd be staying longer than he thought."  
"Alright. I'll hold off on arresting anyone. Don't want the big fish to swim away…" She said as she sipped her coffee.

That night was the quietest one she'd had in sometime, the most noise came from her iTunes and AIM, as she instant messaged LeShawna. Sadly, it only stayed that way till about 1:15 in the morning, when she was woken up to rocks pelting her window. She groaned, threw the sheets back and dragged herself from the bed and went to the window and opened it. Duncan was standing below it.  
"Why didn't you just call?" She asked and yawned.  
"Left my phone at my apartment."  
"I think you're lying." She said with a sleepy smile.  
"Maybe I am." He smirked as he opened his arms to her. "Come on."  
"I am not jumping from my window. I am going back to sleep." She started to close her window.  
"Gwen, if you don't jump from that window, you'll be in a lot of trouble."  
"Oh? What's going to happen?"  
"There's two armed men in your house and they're coming up the stairs."

That woke Gwen up immediately and she leapt from her window without a second thought and landed right in his arms.  
"Gotcha." He said as he set her down on her feet.  
"What the hell are we standing around for, lets go!"  
He laughed; "_Gotcha_." He repeated. Gwen looked at him with a look of pure evil.  
"You lied to me about something THAT important to get me to JUMP out of my WINDOW?!"  
"Shh! You'll wake the world with your yelling." He said covering her mouth as he pulled her away into the dark.  
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" She hiss whispered as she shoved him backwards.  
"I just wanted to see you, and I didn't want to wake anyone up by calling you…" He said with a soft smile. Gwen crossed her arms and eyed him. Did he expect that mushy crap to work on her? Ha. "No, really I did. I wanted to take you to my apartment."  
"And you couldn't wait till morning?" She asked.

Duncan sighed. "Look, is your Mom or brother home?"  
"No. Mom's doing overtime till like 6AM, and my brother is at his friends house."  
"Good." And just as he uttered that word, screeching tires whipped around the corner and sped down the street and stopped in front of her house, and in horror Gwen watched the whole bottom level of her house become riddled with bullets, someone even pointing to the window she'd just jumped out of, and shooting into it. Duncan kept her pulled toward the back of the house in the dark.

It seemed like it was over in a blink of an eye.  
"Y-you weren't lying." Gwen said looking at him. Duncan looked away.  
"I was hoping to get you out of here before this happened." He said.  
"Why are they coming after me?"  
"…I caused some trouble…you could say." He said as he took her to his car, a brand new black Mercedes.  
"I see you replaced your old one."

He chuckled some and nodded as he opened the passenger side door for her.

When she reached his apartment and was comfortable on his couch she asked;  
"How did you know that was going to happen?"  
"I have someone on their side who lets me know the important stuff—like this." He said as he sat down next to her. "That last attack—the one that happened when we were at the movies was a last minute thing, which was why it surprised me, as much as it did you. My informant didn't know about it till after the fact."  
"Oh…" Was all Gwen could manage to say. Duncan sighed heavily.  
"I'm sure you have a lot of questions since all of this serious stuff has happened to you."

She nodded a little. "I'll start at what was supposed to happen to you…"

"I know you're the one who saw what happened to that one guy. The night you hid in those crates."

"You saw me!?"

He only smiled.

"I don't like killing girls. I only do it when ordered to and if I could keep my boss from seeing you, I knew you'd be okay, and it seemed to work, but after I got back into the SUV he told me to track you down and to kill you."

Gwen swallowed; "Did he ever see me?"  
"No. Has no idea who you are—as far as I know. He is a tricky one sometimes…"  
"So—are you going to—you know…kill me?"  
"No." Duncan said shaking his head. "I don't see a reason. You've stayed quiet about what you've seen, and anyway—I kinda like ya sweetheart." He said tilting her head up with his hand and kissing her.

Gwen was lost in her own thoughts as he kissed her. One of them being; that neither of them had any idea that the other was trying to date her. She was struggling with the thought of telling Duncan that she was dating Trent—but then again that wouldn't be completely smart to do, now would it? She kissed him back. This man had saved her life twice now, and taken her to a movie. Trent had saved her life zero times and bought her a bunch of stuff and took her to Vegas. She looked up into Duncan's eyes and made her decision right then and there. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him deeply.  
"Glad to see you feel the same." He teased, when they parted. She smiled and snuggled against him some.  
"Am I going to be safe now?"  
"As long as you're with me, you will be." He kissed the top of her head.

Now Gwen had another internal battle. Tell Duncan about the case the cops were trying to make against him, or talk to Bridgette and see if she could talk her out of at least prosecuting Duncan. She sighed in an annoyed way, because she knew what her answer would be and deep down inside she knew that Duncan indeed was probably the trigger man in that murder.  
"What're you thinking about?" He asked, while she reclined on him.  
"A lot of stuff…" She whispered.  
"You can tell me." His hand slipped down toward hers and his fingers slowly wrapped around hers.  
"No, I can't."  
"Gwen, are you in some sort of trouble? I can make that go away, just tell me who and where they are. They'll never bother you again." He said nodding.  
"It's not that. Duncan—I'm scared you're going to get arrested when Trent comes back from Vegas."

There was a long silence.

"How do you know he's in Vegas? And how do you know his name?" Duncan asked in a deadly serious voice. Gwen bit her lip.  
"He's been trying to date me the same amount of time you have. He took me to Vegas yesterday afternoon, I came back this morning because—"  
"something didn't go right "business" wise, right?" He asked. Gwen nodded. "So, Gwen, you've been—dating both of us?" He asked.  
"Not really…no one decided to tell me if we were supposed to be serious and then when I get to Vegas, I'm Gwen the girlfriend…and I know that you thought I was your girl too, right?"  
"Well…yeah."

Gwen groaned in an annoyed way, even though this mess was her fault.  
"Look, never mind that. Do you realize what Trent's going to do to you when he finds out you're with me?" He asked.  
"Do YOU realize what the cops are planning on doing when Trent comes back?!"  
"How do you know what they're doing?!"  
"…I was supposed to be working for them."

Duncan's face went pale and he started to look around at the doors and windows, wondering if at any second his apartment would be on the news the next morning. Then he got another theory. What if she was wearing a wire?! He grabbed hold her shirt and ripped it in two, which made Gwen scream in fear and back away. "What the HELL ARE YOU DOING!?" She screamed.  
"Making sure you're not wearing a wire." He said as he tossed her a blanket that was on the couch, to cover up with.  
"Duncan, I'm going to do everything I can to make sure you don't go away—I really like you. You showed me how much you care about me. You saved my life not once but twice. That is the sweetest most unselfish thing another person can do for another."  
"Don't let it get out…" He said blushing slightly at the realization of his kind nature.  
"I want to protect you too." She said placing her hand on his. He looked at her and nodded; "I trust you." He whispered.  
"Good." She said and then sighed. She had to figure out a way to just get Duncan out of this mess. Maybe a plea bargain? She had no idea if Bridgette would even consider it, considering what was on the tapes… "When you and Trent told Owen about that murder what exactly did you tell him?"  
"I didn't say anything. I was just there. Trent did all the talking."  
There. A flicker of hope. "That is WONDERFUL. I think you just saved yourself!" She said.  
"What are you talking about? How do you know Owen?"

Gwen didn't answer either of these questions, she didn't want to get Owen killed.

That night while Duncan used Gwen's thigh as a pillow, she was up thinking and being quite paranoid when her phone went off, luckily she got to it before the ring tone woke Duncan.  
"Yeah?"  
"Gwen, it's Bridgette."  
"Oh, hey. How are things?"  
"Not good at all."  
"What do you mean?" Gwen asked already getting a little nervous.  
"Are you sure Owen gave you the right tapes?"  
"Um, I guess so. They're the only two he had in his hand."  
"These are blank. Do you have any idea what could have happened to them?"  
Gwen paused in thought for a long moment and then a light bulb light up above her head;  
"Airport security? Maybe their machines wiped them clean? I know they'll do that to some throw away cameras…" She said. Now it was Bridgette who was quiet.  
"…Damn it. It seems that whenever it looks like we've closed this case something funny happens to our evidence." Bridgette sighed in aggravation. "Anyway, I heard that Trent is due back from the states in about two days."  
"Alright, I'll see what else I can do." She said and the two hung up.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Omg can you all forgive me? I'm SO sorry I've left you all hanging like that. x_x After this chapter though there's only one left which I swear will be up next week. Possibly even this weekend since I'm off. :)  
_**

The two days went by peacefully, well except at work Heather happened to be working those days and making Gwen's life hell, but after work everything was well and good. Duncan picked her up from work, took her to school, waited the few hours for her classes to get out and took her home, spent time with her and even met her Mother and brother. Her Mom didn't approve too much, but promised she wouldn't interfere with Gwen's relationship since she was old enough to make her own choices. Her brother on the other hand was just enthralled by the car Duncan drove, and was completely thrilled when he promised that he could drive it as soon as he got his permit. Finally something to motivate the kid.

Duncan did have work to do so sometimes he'd have to leave early or not show up at all, but Gwen understood, while her Mother ranted some about it. The night of the second peaceful day Gwen had Duncan in her bedroom and they were watching TV. She was getting ready to ask him if he could leave this life of crime and not settle down with her, but at least get a legit job, so she could stop worrying about him every time he left to do some work. As she opened her mouth to begin the conversation his phone went off…  
"Hey boss, nice trip to Vegas?" It was followed by a short laugh. "You're getting in at nine? Alright, yeah I'll be home. See you then." And they hung up. "Looks like I have to leave really early, sweetheart."  
"That's okay." She smiled at him. Looks like that talk would have to wait till later…

About eight in the morning Duncan left back to his apartment, and Gwen was left sleeping in her bed, after all it was her day off. Eight thirty rolled around and a ring tone woke her up. It wasn't hers though, it was Duncan's.  
"He left his phone here…" She sighed. "So much for my beauty sleep." She dragged herself out of bed and got dressed. She knew it was important that he had his phone on him.

After the thirty five minute bus ride and two block walk Gwen arrived at Duncan's apartment. She climbed the stairs to it and knocked on his door. His door opened.  
"Hey Gwen, what brings you here?"  
"You left your phone at my place." She said pulling it from her pocket.  
"Thanks, I was looking for it just a minute ago too." He laughed. "I'll swing by your place tonight at about ten, is that okay?"  
"Yeah, perfect, see you then." She kissed him and went back on her way.

When Gwen returned home, her brother came up to her;  
"Hey, some guy came here looking for you."  
"Who?" She asked raising an eyebrow some.  
"Said his name was Trent."  
Gwen was silent for a moment, nodded some at her brother and left up to her room.

Ten o'clock that night Duncan showed up, when he didn't have other things to do, he was always on time. Mom and brother were out. One at work, the other at a friends house, Gwen had the whole place to herself, which made it ideal to have a movie night on the couch with Duncan. Gwen had herself curled against him and he had his arm around her, enjoying the movie.

During a quiet point in the movie, Gwen heard the front door open. She shrugged; her brother must have forgotten something. She settled back into watching the movie. Suddenly the room was bathed in the soft light from the ceiling fan, and when Gwen turned to bitch her brother out, she paused, mouth somewhat open in shock.  
"Gwen."  
"Trent…"  
Duncan turned to look; "Boss…"  
Trent's eyes narrowed as his gaze turned from Gwen to Duncan. "Duncan…I didn't know you knew Gwen." His answer was silence as Duncan tried to form a good excuse. "But you know what—it doesn't matter. I got some very interesting information once you left Vegas, Gwen.  
"Oh?" Gwen asked biting her top lip some, almost afraid to find out what it was.  
"You're working for the cops, hm?"

She swallowed. "Who told you?"  
"Your undercover." Trent smirked. "Who is actually working for us. Owen and I have been very good friends for years. Did you really think he'd rat me out?"

That was why the tapes were blank. Gwen went to stand up, when he pulled a hand gun from his pocket and pointed it at her. "Sit down."

She did as told. Trent's eyes moved toward Duncan.  
"And you. Have you been working with her this whole time too?"  
"No way!" He said. "You know I hate cops." He went to get up, but was told in an even more firm voice to "sit his ass down".

The barrel of the gun wavered between the two of them. Gwen sat perfectly still in fear.  
"So Gwen tell me, have you had any trouble recently? You know—maybe people shooting up your house?"  
"You knew about that!" She cried.  
"I didn't. But Owen did. As soon as he found out you were working for the cops he found some gang members that Duncan had previously roughed up and hired them to get rid of you."  
"That is low, really low." Duncan hissed.  
"Shut up." The barrel landed on him, and Duncan was silent.  
"You know Gwen—" Trent continued looking at her. "I actually liked you. You think I take anyone to Vegas with me and let them charge on my credit card? And you were using me for all you could get and then you were going to put me away forever, huh?" He was staring her down and Gwen could barely bring herself to move her hand, much less form words. "As far as I'm concerned you're both traitors and you know how I deal with those…?" He smiled in a twisted way. Gwen heard the sound of the gun cock, but when the ear shattering sound of the bullet being discharged hit the air she squeezed her eyes shut and felt herself hit the ground.

The only pain she could feel was from hitting her funny bone on the wood floor. She rolled onto her back and looked up. Duncan was holding his arm.  
"So eager to die too? All she's going to do is lock you up too." Trent taunted. The look on Duncan's face was warped with pain, and anger. In a split second Duncan had quarterback tackled Trent and the gun went up into the air and hit the ground, discharging another round that hit the wall.

Gwen got to her feet and went to rush to Duncan, especially when she saw Trent dig two fingers into the bullet wound on his arm. Duncan let out a pain filled scream and was forced to let go with his injured arm.  
"GET THE GUN GWEN, GET THE GUN!" He yelled. Trent threw him to the floor and got up and from the inside of his jacket produced another, smaller gun. Gwen had her back turned to get the gun when she heard another loud BANG and Duncan cry out. She whirled around and blood was pooling around him. Trent was kneeling next to Duncan, who was struggling for breath, and using his good hand to put pressure on the wound in his stomach.  
"Don't worry, she'll be joining you soon enough." Trent said in a soft, almost caring voice.

Gwen snatched the gun up from the floor and pointed it point blank at Trent.  
"Drop your gun." She said feeling her emotions take over, causing tears to make her vision a bit blurry. She wiped her eyes and saw him press the barrel of the gun against Duncan's temple.  
"Tell her goodbye." He said smirking.  
"I SAID DROP IT!" She screeched.

It cocked and Gwen couldn't give him another chance, her index finger squeezed the trigger, once, twice, three times, and she heard something slump to the floor. She opened her eyes, and Trent was laying backwards on the floor, the gun had fallen away from his hand. Two of the shots had hit their mark and the third hit the front door.

Just then the said front door was kicked in and Bridgette and about ten SWAT officers and FBI agents flooded the room.  
"The girl's on our side! Don't hurt her!" Bridgette called out as she made a B-Line for Trent, and kicked the gun away from him, just in case. Gwen felt the gun in her hands being pried from her. The agent was trying to coax her into relaxing even a little bit, and finally her death grip loosened and she slumped to her knees and leaned against the agents' legs and started to sob.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: And the final chapter! Thank you everyone who has read, reviewed, alerted, added me to their favorites, etc etc~ I'm not sure when I'll be gracing you all with another fic, but hopefully it'll be soon. My trilogy needs some revamping, I'm not to pleased with my 2nd story and I'm at a dead spot in my 3rd...but stay tuned. :D lol  
_**

**Two Days Later**

Gwen was in a new house that Bridgette had helped her get for her family so they wouldn't have to stay in a bloodied, bullet ridden home. She was sitting in her bare bedroom on the floor against her closet, leaning on her knees. Trent had obviously died on the spot and Duncan was in the hospital. The doctors said he would make a full recovery, but even that good news didn't help how she was feeling. She was due to meet Bridgette in an hour to go over testimony or something or other for the District Attorney. She had yet to find out if Bridgette knew that Owen was a double agent or that if she would be testifying against the man she'd saved—and cared for. A knock came to her bedroom door;  
"Gwen honey? A Detective Westwood is here to see you."  
Early.  
Gwen sighed heavily. "Do you want me to let her in here or would you like to talk in the living room?"  
"I'll come down Mom, just have her wait a minute."  
"Okay dear, I'll let her know." And her Mother retreated from the door.

After collecting herself enough to where she felt she could maneuver down the stairs Gwen went to the living room and sat down next to Bridgette.  
"Gwen, I just want to tell you—you did an amazing, excellent job." Bridgette began.  
"Thanks…I guess." She said looking at her hands.  
"If you ever want a job being undercover, I'll be more than happy to write you a letter of recommendation." Bridgette laughed some. Gwen smiled half heartedly, she knew Bridgette was trying to lighten the mood, but it wasn't really working. "In all seriousness, though Gwen, I know what you went through and how much of a toll it's taken on you, but I want you to tell me anything you can."  
"Do you know that Owen is a double agent?" She asked still looking down at her hands.  
"After we heard what Trent said, yes. A team is picking him up in Vegas today."  
"How did you hear what Trent said?"  
"I know you're not going to like the sound of this Gwen but we had your living room bugged while you were at school."  
"Then what the HELL took so LONG?" She was aggravated now.  
"I know it's no excuse, but traffic." Bridgette sighed. "There was an accident on the freeway, it held us up longer than we expected."

Gwen rolled her eyes and sighed as she put a hand in her hair. "I could have died."  
"I realize that, believe me I do and if that tragedy would have happened, my team and myself would have taken full responsibility for it." She said nodding. Bridgette's phone rang. "Westwood here, go ahead." There was a silence as Bridgette listened. "You did? Great. Bag 'em and bring 'em in with Owen." And she flipped her phone shut. "We just found the real tapes. Apparently Trent and Owen weren't as good of friends as we all thought. He was hanging onto the real ones to blackmail him into giving him more money."  
Gwen nodded some and then decided to bring up Duncan;  
"What about Duncan?" She had her top lip curled under her teeth, hoping for a positive answer.  
"I knew this was coming. Gwen—I really can't believe you got involved with him for real. We all thought you were doing this for the case." Bridgette said as she pushed a few blonde strands from her face.  
"Just tell me what's going to happen for him."  
"Once he's better, he'll stand trial for what he's done."  
Gwen's eyes watered. "Is there anything I can do to stop that?"  
"No, I'm sorry. I know it's hard, but he committed some pretty violent crimes."  
"B-but…" She wiped at her eyes in an effort to keep from bawling. "isn't there anything you can do? Anything at all? Please detective, please…"

Bridgette sighed heavily. "Gwen, if I pulled any strings, this would be letting a killer go free."  
"You don't understand, Duncan—he's…he's really not like that." Gwen was trying to make excuses, trying to save him.  
"That man he shot, did you know he had three kids and a wife?"

Gwen shook her head.  
"Should I really try to save him and let his family suffer?"

Gwen didn't move nor answer.

Following a long quiet period in the living room, Bridgette went to leave, assuming Gwen had nothing left to say.  
"Wait…" Gwen said in a choked whisper. Bridgette turned around to face her. "What if I get Duncan to testify against Owen?"  
Bridgette sat back down next to her.  
"I'll tell you what I can TRY to do but this depends COMPLETELY on the DA."

Gwen looked up in hopes it was something good. "If Owen will confess to the murder, and previous murders that we suspect Duncan of committing, I'll let Duncan go with time served."  
"But won't Owen want to try to bargain with you if you try to pin that on him?"  
Bridgette smiled some. "Yes, but the bargain will be this; Cop to these terms and you will be placed in protective custody. Despite the fact he's a double agent, he's still put many bad men away who'd love to get a hold of him, and judging now that it's out there that he'd betrayed us cops, there's plenty of officers who'd love to also get a hold of him."

Gwen smiled happily. "Thank you so much…" She wiped her eyes.  
"No problem at all. Now come on, I'll take you to go see him, if you want."

Gwen nodded. She hadn't been to the hospital yet to see Duncan, and apparently today the medicine was due to wear off and he would wake up from surgery.

The hospital room was kind of plain, but then again Duncan didn't seem to have many friends who could show their faces in broad daylight. However when Gwen entered with Bridgette tagging along behind her, she saw two officers standing at his bedside. One was weeping quietly and the other holding onto the female officer. Bridgette pulled Gwen a little closer to her and whispered;  
"Those are his parents."

"His parents are cops?" Gwen whispered back astonished. Bridgette nodded. Duncan's Father turned around hearing the door open.  
"You must be Gwen." He said softly as his wife pushed her face into his arm more, staining his blue shirt with tears.  
"I am, how did you know?"  
"He's asked for you about six times now."  
"He's awake?"  
"No, he's due to wake up in an hour though."

Suddenly before Gwen could say another word, the female officer; Duncan's Mother rushed to her and grabbed her hands and squeezed them.  
"Thank you for saving our boy. Thank you so much." And she yanked Gwen into a hug, which caused the shield his Mother wore to dig somewhat into Gwen's shoulder.  
"He saved me plenty of times too." Gwen whispered as his Mother parted from her. When she heard that, she smiled softly and looked at her husband who had a faint smile on his face as well after hearing that.  
"Duncan—never really was a bad child…" And his Mother seemed to trail off after that.

With being paged over their radios the couple left to a call—a domestic, if Gwen heard right. It must have been hard to have to leave their son there like that, but maybe since they knew he would be alright, it set them at ease—or they were the type who had to work, work, work until they were numb to whatever was going wrong in their lives.  
"You want something to eat or drink Gwen? I'm heading up to McDonalds."  
"Um…some chicken nuggets would be good and a Pepsi, if you don't mind."  
"Not at all. See you soon." And Bridgette disappeared from the room.

Gwen pulled up one of the chairs in the room and sat down next to Duncan, the beeping of the machines the only sound in the room. She reached over the protective barrier that would stop him from falling out of the bed, and held onto his hand. He squeezed it some and she heard him mumble her name. She smiled and leaned closer and kissed his cheek softly.

Lunch came and went and after assuring Bridgette she could get home by herself Gwen remained in the room and when she saw the clock she noted how the doctor was wrong about him waking up in an hour. She rubbed his hand some and slowly she saw his eyes open. Well—maybe the doctor wasn't wrong after all. She smiled happily as she watched his eyes come into focus after much blinking and rubbing. He turned his head toward her.  
"I knew you were here with me." He said with a smirk.  
"Not so badass now, hm? Asking for me in your sleep." She teased. He laughed.  
"Guess not." He whispered playing with her fingers some.  
"How are you feeling?"  
"Good actually. The pain meds are still doing their work I guess."  
"You never told me your parents were cops…" She said, deciding now was as good of time as any to bring this up.  
"Oh? I didn't? Well, they're cops." He smiled.  
"They came in here to see you."

Duncan didn't reply to that, he only smiled sheepishly down at his lap. When he looked back up at her, he quickly changed the subject;  
"So when are they discharging me?"  
"Last I hear in about a week to give everything at least a little time to heal up, so when you move you don't rip any of your stitches out."

He nodded, understanding. "Then, let me guess. I go directly to trial?"  
Gwen shook her head.  
"What do you mean no?" He asked confused and slightly surprised.  
"Bridgette is going to pull some strings with the DA…"  
"By your request?"  
Gwen smiled and nodded. Duncan returned her smile and gazed up at her. "You're amazing Gwen. Saving my ass a second time."  
"You saved me twice too. So we're even now." She joked. He kissed her hand.  
"Looks like I'm going to have to save you one more time so you still hold me in high regard." He teased.  
"I don't think you'll have too. While I was having lunch with the detective she told me Owen gave up who he hired to have me killed and she had a team heading down there to arrest them all. They won't be getting out for a long, long time. Attempted murder charges are hard to beat, specially when your victim is still very much alive." She laughed.  
"Did he only give them up for leniency?"  
"I wouldn't know, but according to Bridgette the only leniency he's getting is protective custody after he's sentenced." Gwen said nodding.

**One Month and Twenty One Days Later**

The trial had ended about a week ago, and Gwen was now free to talk to anyone she wanted to about it. She already had fourteen book offers, six movie offers, and twenty five interview offers. Gwen was just happy it was all over. When they really wanted to the court system could rush things to trial. Since this involved a cop, she assumed that was why it didn't take to long to get everything processed.

She'd completed four interviews two days ago, and had used the money to buy an apartment. It was so nice living on her own. In a week or so she was going to take Oprah up on her offer to interview her. That should pay for the rest of the leases rent. She laughed to herself a little and heard the front door open.  
"Hey sweetheart."  
"Hey."

Oh yeah, and Duncan was living with her. The DA had all but physically beaten Owen to accepting the terms of the plea bargain, so here he was. A legit job, in school and perusing of all things—law.  
"How did you like spending your day off?" Duncan teased as he kicked his shoes off.  
"I loved it. How did you like your morning at school and afternoon at work?"

He sighed some and flopped down next to her, putting an arm around her shoulders.  
"Tiring. I think I liked being on the wrong side of the law more. It was easier." He laughed.  
"Well, you know the terms…" She warned in a teasing voice.  
"I know, I know. I have to be a good boy from now on, or I get kicked out."  
"You don't ALWAYS have to be a good boy." Gwen smirked.  
"Oh…I see." He whispered leaning closer and kissing her. "I have a surprise for you Gwen." He continued in a whisper. Duncan took her hands and led her into the bedroom. Gwen was eyeing him, if it was what she thought it was; she'd already seen it. But instead of dropping his pants, he pushed the bed to the side and moved the trunk aside that they had some of their spare winter clothes in, and he popped the board up.  
"What—what the hell are you doing?" She asked coming closer.

When she got close enough her eyes widened.  
"Duncan…"

There in the floor was over a hundred grand in Ones, Fives, Tens, and Twenties.  
"I brought it from my old place when you were out at work one day." He said as he tossed her a bound wad of tens. He stood up and pulled her close. "Trent wasn't the only one who could take you to Vegas and show you a good time." And from his pocket he flashed two plane tickets.  
"When do we leave?" She asked in awe.  
"Eight hours. Pack your bags." He kissed her deeply.

Gwen knew she should have scolded him for keeping this money, but at least they could live off of it incase something ever happened to one or both of them. She went and dug her suitcase out and started packing as Duncan in the background put the board back and moved the trunk over it and then scooted the bed back into its proper position. As Gwen tossed a few pairs of underwear into the suitcase Duncan came up behind her and hugged her close and rested his head on her shoulder.  
"Love you."

She couldn't help but giggle. "Love you too." She kissed his nose.

This time she was going to have A LOT of fun in Vegas. She would be sure to tell him that they were staying at a different hotel though. She didn't even want to think of The Riviera.

**The End**


End file.
